"So, I was never really lost at all if you think about it!" Bobby explained in that way he had, conveying relief and some fear all at the same time.

He had just finished explaining how he had gone to look for Eddie and Shawn when they had left the forest and that he couldn't find them. Bobby himself had gotten lost for a few hours, but then showed up once the police had left. It was all a big misunderstanding according to Bobby. Ralph, for his part, had been sleeping in the room when he got home.

Mom just assumed that Ralph had wandered inside the house from outside. She had promised to keep a better eye on everyone, especially now that the police had been informed that both kids were safe and sound.

It was so sad to hear that Eddy was sick and in some kind of coma. Mom said he hadn't responded to anything. But at least the family was still together.

"So, is it true?" Bobby asked, leaning forward from his bed to capture Shawn's attention.

"Do you think Dad was holding some kind of weird cult ritual in that hole he's been digging? We both saw him praying in the office. I know  you probably saw it too. And he's grown out his beard and stuff. We didn't get chance to check out the hole as long as you did."

Shawn was relieved that Bobby was safe and disappeared for completely mundane reasons. Still, given the circumstances, he definitely didn't want Bobby to get too curious about any weird supernatural goings on. "Honestly, it kinda smelled like poop down there. I think Dad was just fixing the septic tank..."

"Ohhhhh..." Bobby said, drawing out the 'Oh' in disappointment. It was clear that it would have been fun if Dad was into some religious kind of cult, from Bobby's perspective.

"Well, Ralph is sick. And Mom said that he was missing. I think he caught a cold outside or something. Oh, brother, I hope I don't catch it."

"We've only got this last month in August! It feels like the Summer is slipping away." He said, slightly anxious, not wanting the Summer to leave. "We have to make the best of what's left. Mom said she wants us to go to some kind of camp. I'm not so sure. I mean, I heard Mom and Dad arguing over money. Dad doesn't want to send us to camp."

"I don't want to go to camp. They'll probably send us to some kind of boat came or something and I don't want that."

Shawn was relieved that Bobby didn't need any further encouragement to believe him about the pit. But he wasn't sure what to think about this new wrinkle of being sent to camp. "Yeah, I'd totally much rather stay here than go to some lake and sleep in a tent or whatever." With open conflict breaking out between the Order and the Clowns, he wasn't sure if it'd be more or less safe to be somewhere else. But at least here he knew the neighbourhood, right?

"Mom doesn't like the fact that we're all running around without anything to do. She said we were 'wild.' She even used the word 'bad boys.' But she didn't really call us 'bad boys.' She said she didn't want us to be like the 'bad boys.'" Bobby explained.

Shawn knew the phrase 'bad boys.' Mom would use it to describe any older kid that was doing something usually terrible, like spray painting things, or making prank phone calls. Or worse...smoking. Mom definitely would have thought that Eddy was a 'bad boy' because Eddy had offered that cigarette to Shawn that one time.

"We might have to go to camp. But I hope she forgets about it. Is Dad gonna be home more now that he doesn't have a job?"

In the corner of the room, Ralph was snoring in his bed. "Mom was glad to see that Ralph is OK." Bobby said, acknowledging the snore.

Shawn scratched his chin in thought. "Maybe we should find something to do that she'd like? Like a club or a team or something? Then we're not being wild and she can't send us to camp, right?"

"Yeah" Bobby agreed. He sat down on the floor and leaned back into the pillows that lay on the rug, the result of Ralph's restless sleep. They were strewn across the floor, Ralph wrapped in a bundle of blankets still snoring.

"That might work." Bobby said. And then, changing the subject "What do you think of the new neighbors? They seem fun."

Shawn needed a moment to remember the new neighbours - so much had happened since meeting the neighbours it was hard to remember. "Anthony seems cool, and Tiffany's alright for a girl. And Michael seems a bit odd but he's nice once you get to know him."

Saying this triggered a memory of what Dad had said earlier. "Though I heard they might be going out of town this weekend."

"Drats!" Bobby said, kicking his foot out, a pillow falling lopsided to the floor. "I was hoping we could play SPUD with them."

That last comment brought a little bit of silence into the room. The memory of the times, just recently as last week when Eddy, Bobby and Ralph had played SPUD with the ball that was in the side yard. All of this was, of course, before Eddy...

"What were you doing in the shed with Michael?" Bobby asked suddenly. "I saw you through the window last week go in there when Ralph and I were upstairs with Tiffany and Anthony."

Shawn shrugged and tried to look nonchalant. “He just wanted to show me some of his dad’s tools. He’s kinda awkward but I think he was just trying to be friendly.”

"Oh." Bobby said. "I thought it was probably something like that."

"Last night I had a bad dream." Bobby said suddenly. "And you were in it."

"We were inside of some kind of cabin. I was me. But it was like I was a different me. I was telling you that we were the same. That we were both liars. I was scared in the dream. I was scared of you. I was scared that you were going to do something to me."

"That's a weird dream. Do you think it means something?" Shawn carefully kept his expression curious, as if the dream was so far outside anything that could possibly happen that he couldn't even begin to take it personally. Like it was some weird puzzle or he'd accidentally taken home a seventh-grader's math homework and had no idea where to even start to solve it.

Bobby thought for a moment. "Yes." He said after a few seconds, his finger on the edge of his chin. "Yes, I think it does."

But his face was still scrunched up and confused.

"...but I'm not sure what it means." he concluded, somewhat lamely, as if he had an idea, but it was just within his grasp and faded away like the details of the dream itself.

"You ever have a dream like that? What kind of dreams do you have?"

Shawn scratched his head as if he was giving the question a lot of thought. He'd had all sorts of terrifying dreams, dreams about strings digging into his arms and legs, dreams about losing control of his body, dreams about taking a knife and driving into his doppelganger over and over and over again. But he'd never mention any of that to Bobby. "I dunno, I don't remember most of my dreams. I guess I have one sometimes where I'm at school and I have to give a report, and then I realise I'm not wearing any clothes..."

"In this dream I was a different person. I mean, it was still me, but it wasn't. Kind of like it is the only way that it makes sense in a dream. You know?"

Bobby waited for confirmation, but interrupted the second or two designed for Shawn's feedback, as another thought dawned on him.

"I was also really into toy cars in my dream. Much more into toy cars than G.I. Joes. And I remember thinking that I wasn't a good boy. Because good boys don't trick people into dying. I don't remember why. But I had tricked some kid into dying. In the dream, I led someone back to the cabin. A kid named Will or William. But you know how sometimes William I think is Bob. Or is it Robert that is Bob?"

"Oh brother, I don't remember." He said, exhausted by his own thoughts.

"Eddy said that his Mom told him he should write down his dreams in a book as soon as he wakes up. I told him I didn't think it was such a bad idea. But Eddy told me that he told his Mom that the idea was 'gay.' So he never did it."

"That's weird." Shawn kept up an air of polite interest even as he watched Bobby for any sign that he was taking it as anything other than a weird dream. "I mean, if it's gay, that's a bad thing, right?"

"Yeah, I guess so." Bobby agreed, though his voice lacked enthusiasm for the judgement.

"It might be good to try to write my dreams down. I mean, it's 'gay' don't get me wrong. That's why I probably won't do it. Just...just like Eddy said. But maybe if I get a notebook or something one day, I'll try it. I mean, just to prove that Eddy was right." He clarified.

"Do...do you think that umm....Eddy will come out of it?"

"I think so." Shawn tried to sound authoritative, assured, like he knew what he was talking about. "People come out of comas all the time."

That idea seemed to spark Bobby's interest. He brought his hands up to his sides and his eyes grew wide.

"What if Eddy wakes up and has amnesia? What he doesn't remember he's Eddy and we have to teach him."

"That would be sad. But at least he would wake up." He reflected, coming down from the idea and landing in the ocean of reality. The reality that the boy they knew, was now just sitting in the hospital. Devoid of the personality that they had come to know.

"You know, I heard at school sometimes people come out of comas speaking a totally different language. Maybe he'll know Spanish or something?" Shawn tried to keep Bobby out of more morose thoughts, even as he knew how Eddy's coma was entirely his fault. He didn't know how to fix this, or even if it was fixable, but Shawn knew he had to figure out what happened before he used the cards again.

"Do you think Eddy was friends with Eric?" Bobby asked. "Remember that time when Eric chased us and we had to hop the fence? I never really did figure out if, I don't know. If Eddy was friends with Eric because he laughed at us that one time. And kind of made fun of us. Or if he was more friends with us then Eric. It seems so stupid now. But it really bothered me for a while. I wanted Eddy to like me more than he did. I kind of liked Eddy when he was just hanging out with us."

"It's something I'm starting to notice, you know? It's like some kids act differently around other kids." Bobby said, in a tone that suggested he just wanted people to act the same all of the time, and that they should act true.

"I think Eddy thought Eric was his friend, but I don't know if Eric thought Eddy was his friend...Eric was really mean." Shawn was also fond of the idea of kids being open and honest more often - as long as it didn't apply to him.

"That's probably right." Bobby agreed.

"Well," he started, as if approaching the next topic with a little bit of trepidation. "Ralph is sort of...tired I guess."

"A lot has been going on this summer. What with Erik and Eddy...and now Ralph being lost and then found. And me being lost, even though I wasn't really lost. And now maybe camp."

"It kind of makes me want more of a predictable day."

"I mean, not like I want to go back to school!" Bobby quickly corrected himself, as if horrified at the train of logic that was developing.

"Yeah, it's been kinda crazy. But it can't stay like that forever, right?" Shawn was as much reassuring himself as Bobby. One way or another, the situation he was in couldn't sustain itself forever, and something would change. The only question was whether it got better or worse.

OOC: Shawn Joins Thread

Shawn: Later That Night...